One cost efficient way of manufacturing electrical power connectors is to mold the plastic insulative body about the terminal elements to be held by the plug. When the metallic terminal element to be held includes a spring component, for example, of the type found in a female disconnect, it is advisable to mold the insulative body of a relatively soft and low tensile strength material such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) so that the body will not unduly interfere with operation of the spring component. Excessive interference with the spring component could make the force necessary to mate the connector with another connector unacceptably high.
It is also desirable,to provide latching means on the connectors to prevent their unintentional disassociation. The most cost efficient method of providing a latching component is to mold it as an integral part of the connector insulative body. Examples of prior art connector systems (including a plug and a receptacle) are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIG. 1, the plug 20 includes laterally protruding ears 24 having leading ramp surfaces for bowing apart side walls 26 defining a cavity in a receptacle 28 so that the ears can be received in windows 29. The trailing surfaces 30 of the ears extend at a more severe angle but function also to cam apart the side walls 26, upon application of a greater pull out force than the insertion force, to release the plug from the receptacle.
In FIG. 2, the plug 32 has rockable latch arms 33 for engaging ears extending laterally from the outside of the receptacle shroud 34. This configuration requires that both latch arms be concurrently moved to their release positions to permit removal of the plug. While both the FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 designs operate satisfactorily when the plug and receptacle are molded of relatively hard plastic, such as nylon, they would not be acceptable if one of the bodies was molded of the relatively soft, low tensile plastic. If the plug 20 were formed of PVC, the surfaces of the locking ear could be damaged when unmating the plug. Upon repeated connection and release, it is likely the ears would be torn or wiped away. With respect to the plug configuration of FIG. 2, PVC is too flexible to be used for such rockable arms.